A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved economical energy saving apparatus for baking food products such as pretzels and the like.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Typical prior art devices for baking food products such as pretzels and the like are large in size due to the number of operations performed on the product. Typically, these prior art devices are open in the front to allow the operator to load the food products into the apparatus to be baked and to remove them after baking. Consequently, large amounts of heat escape from the apparatus resulting in a waste of energy.
In addition, during baking products such as pretzels and the like, salt must be added to the product, thus requiring a container of salt and some mechanism to dispense the salt onto the product. Prior art methods of accomplishing this procedure are to allow continuous dispensing of salt thus resulting in a waste of a large amount of salt or to provide intermittent vibration of the container of salt thus resulting in an inadequate amount of salt or no salt at all on the product which is undesirable. Another problem with the prior art device is removal of the baked product from the assembly that conveys the product through the apparatus and through the various stages of baking, salting and the like. This procedure is often difficult requiring manual removal upon occasion.